Peak Fitness Blog

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Did you know you can harness the power of the afterburn effect to burn more fat and achieve a more cut up body in MUCH less time working out?Surprisingly, very few people in the exercise world acknowledge the proven success of this type of training. Most people figure the more time you spend in the gym the more cut up you will be--but that doesn't have to be the case. You don't have to spend 3 hours in the gym to have an appealing body--in fact you have a better chance of achieving a perfect figure if you spend LESS time in the gym. Here's how it works:

The Afterburn Effect:

In short, the afterburn effect is calorie burn AFTER exercise. The more intense the exercise, the greater the afterburn effect. For example, sprinting as fast as you can for 30 seconds for 5 rounds will have a much larger afterburn effect compared to jogging for 30 minutes.

Most people focus on calories burned DURING a workout, but what really matters is the calories you burn AFTER a workout. Think about it--working out for an hour a day is great, but what really matters is how your body reacts for the remaining 23 hours. Its scientifically proven that if you want to lose body fat and get ripped, it takes intermittent bursts of high-intensity activity followed by rest periods.

Instead of worrying about the calories you burn during a workout, think about it like this :you use stored carbs as your primary source during the workout, then burn fat when you're done. And the only way to use carbs as your energy source is to train intensely and raise your resting metabolic rate. When you do intense work at near maximum capacity, your heart rate soars.

As you struggle and gasp for air, you will take in extra oxygen in order to recover. This extra oxygen you take in will cause your metabolism to rise. The scientific name for this fat-burning effect is called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).

Don't think afterburn training is just for people looking to lose weight. The afterburn effect also positively effects people looking to build muscle, and tone 6 pack abs.

Here's a sample afterburn workout. Give it a try:

Super-Superset Workout: (Everything is 5 sets of 6-8 reps)

Superset:

Barbell Bench/ Barbell Squat

Superset:

Pullups/ Barbell Front Squat

Superset:

Standing Military Press/ Deadlift

Superset:

Barbell Row/ Kettle Bell Front Squat

Remember: Less time between sets and rep failure is the ONLY way to build muscle.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

In the past 6 months I've seen a lot better results purely from just altering my diet. I still used to work out pretty hard, but I had no food filter---I ate whatever was in front of me and consequently, I wasn't seeing results as fast as I should have been. I started caring about what I ate and almost immediately started seeing more significant results. Check out a rough outline of my diet below:Also check out this dude. The man's huge. He knows what he's talking about.

MEAL 1:

Eggs/ Egg Whites

8

Veggies

1 serving

Oats

60-80g

MEAL 2:

Lean Protein (Fish, Chicken, Turkey)

7oz

Carbs (Brown Rice)

70g

MEAL 3: POST-WORKOUT SHAKE

Protein Powder (Amplified Whey)

40g

Creatine Monohydrate

MEAL 4:

About an hour after my Post-Workout Shake I have a solid meal of:

Lean Meat

7oz

Complex Carbs (Whole Wheat Rice)

70-90g

Veggies

1 serving

MEAL 5:

Whey Protein

1.5 scoops

Healthy Fats (Almonds, Pistacios)

10-20g

True wealth comes from good health. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Is this Real Life?

My name is Bill Brooks, and I’ll be honest with you, shit like this is what motivates me to go to the gym. In a completely straight way, seeing people with cut up bodies just pushes me to worker harder–specifically because it shows me how much a person can transform their body.

But I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t always motivation to get in the gym. I tried to start working out my sophomore year in high school , but it was an awkward experience–I had no idea how anything worked and I wasn’t seeing any results.

My senior year I decided to actually commit to working out–I was tired of feeling so small. I was 6’1 160 and had a pretty wiry physique. So I started frequently going to the gym, and after a few months I started seeing results. Once I started to gain weight I was hooked–I realized I had control over my body type and I was tired of feeling skinny.

Now, as a sophomore in college I weigh 185 and have a become much more familiar with working out than I was my junior in high school thanks to guidance from a number of influential friends, trainers and coaches. But if there’s one thing I’ve picked up from being in the gym, is that you can always learn more–in fact the more the better. The more you shock your muscles by doing new, unfamiliar routines the more muscle you will build– thats where this blog comes in. I am still on my quest to get bigger. Lets put my goal weight at around 200 lbs–thats 15 pounds gained in muscle mass, not fat. I’m going to use this blog to post some of the approaches I’m taking to gaining muscle mass [routines, nutrition, etc.] as well as my track my progress throughout the semester.

Follow along and feel free make comments or suggestion if you know what the hell your talking about!